For businesses large and small, relying on a cloud-based collaboration and productivity suite such as Microsoft Office 365 is becoming the norm. Enhancing productivity in your organisation is vital to get ahead in 2017 - and using Office 365 can help, if it's used right...

IDF: Intel's Atom in action with new UMPCs

BP and Neusoft demo enterprise use of mobile internet devices

Intel shows off netbooks and mobile internet devices powered by the Atom processor

Several firms took to the keynote stage at the
Intel
Developer Forum in San Francisco today to show off enterprise deployments of
Intel's Atom ultra-mobile PC platform.

Atom is Intel's smallest processor, and is designed for low-cost PCs such as
the Asus Eee 901, as well as mobile internet devices (MIDs).

Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's
Ultra Mobile Group, claimed that the current Menlow-based processor is ideal for
consumer and enterprise applications on MIDs and mini laptops.

He added that the next-generation Atom processor, codenamed Moorestown, will
be aimed at combining MID and smartphone features in a smaller, pocket-sized
handheld.

"It will take idle power down by a factor of 10 compared to the current
Menlow chip," said Chandrasekher. He confirmed that Moorestown is due to hit the
marketplace by or before 2010.

Chandrasekher was joined during the keynote by representatives from Panasonic
and BP who demonstrated their current uses of Atom-based MIDs.

Panasonic showed off its
Toughbook
CF-U1 ultra-mobile ruggedised handheld that will ship next month aimed at
the enterprise and government sectors, as well as a
Toughbook
MCA tablet device for the healthcare sector.

Chandrasekher added that the market for these types of enterprise handhelds
is currently worth about $2.5bn.

Curt Smith, director of applications for the chief technology office at BP,
said that the oil giant turned to an Atom-based MID from Panasonic as a means of
getting power computing to people in the field.

"They needed a screen, keyboard, network, something you can drop, plus eight
hours of battery life, and this just didn't exist before," he explained.

BP is currently using the devices to manage the deployment of spare parts
from its eight-acre facility in Louisiana which supplies an offshore centre in
Mexico.

Employees previously had to locate a part using a handheld GPS system, find
the co-ordinates and then go back to the office to enter the data into the
computer.

With MIDS, staff can use the GPS to locate the part and enter the data into
the handheld on site.

Dr Liu Jiren, chairman and chief executive of Neusoft, China's largest
software and services provider, also took to the stage at IDF to demonstrate
business use of MIDs.

He showed off a MID currently being used by a hospital in Beijing as a
doctor's personal assistant.

"Doctors can use it to access medical records and to see 3D images. They can
put scans into it and access the data," Liu said.

"These are not only a consumer product; businesses will find many uses for
MID products."